Bilbao visit part II
Following on from, my recent blog post on my visit to Bilbao in September. Which mainly featured the architecture and areas around the Guggenheim.
I thought it would be worth sharing some of the other interesting places that are worth visiting whilst you are there.
Starting off a the tourtist information center where there was this interesting use of light bulds and photographes of the city of Bilbao.
The river Nervión runs through the city and you can walk on either side of this river and cross it by many of the different bridges that have been built at regular intervals in the centre. These are all different and some are more photographic interesting than others.
Some of the outdoor sculptors along the banks of the river make interesting subject too and I choose to photograph them using a low angle to make these strong shapes stand out again the sky.
Commemoration day of the Sea – XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0
Another good place to visit was the Azkuna Zentroa, or in English the (Azkuna Centre) previously known as the Alhonhiga Bilbao. It is an interesting building which was originally a large wine warehouse designed 1909 but following it closure around 1970 was finally renovated between 2001-2010 by the architect Philippe Starck in collaboration with Thibaut Mathieu. This is now a multi-purpose venue which houses: a gallery, cinemas, café, shops, fitness center and a swimming pool.
But this is a swimming pool with a difference, it that at the top of the building and has glass panels in the bottom – so you can walk underneath it and look up at the swimmers in the pool back lit from above.
The whole building make for an interesting place to visit: the open space has some interesting lighting and areas to sit and chat in.
Even the pillars supporting the internal structures are all different with attractive decoration patterns.
As I said above you can walk around the city but there is also a very good tram and metro system, if you need to travel quickly or go further out of the city. Of course the metro system, which was designed by another fine architect Sir Norman Foster and as you enter the system by what the locals call ‘Los Fosteritos’ you feel you are entering a futuristic world. Once you have come down the escalators or glass lifts you are lead through tunnels to cavernous stations. With mezzanines floors above the trains and stairs from these lead you down on to platforms. Here are a few images from the stations which feel light and airy compared with some of the other metro systems that are around Europe.
We used the metro to go out to the Areeta metro station to visit the Vizcaya Bridge, known to locals as the Puente Colgante (hanging bridge) which is a link between Portugalete and Getxo. It is the oldest hanging bridge in the world and was constructed in 1893 of iron and was designed so that the passage of ships would be interrupted.
Another transport hub that is worth a vist is the railway station located in Abando near the old town. It is know locally as Bilbao-Abando and locally named as Estación del Norte (“North Station”), it is an interesting build and has a great station glass window showing the industrial heritage of Bilbao.
The skyline of Bilbao has some other notalbe buildings that are worth a look photographing, there is the Iberdrola tower ( Iberdrola dorrea) the head quarters of Iberdrola( the spanish electricity company) it certainly towers above the skyline and makes a interesting subject in various lights.
The final images I shot were at another transport link the airport which is also designed by Santiago Calatrava and the terminal is a sleek design and looks like the front of a large arrow pointing to the sky. This is a shot from the interior departure hall.
